The consumer price stats came out from the Labor Department, showing a slight (0.1) percent decrease from February's levels. Overall prices have been flatlining or declining since last fall, when the bottom fell out of the economy. Much of the decline has been driven by energy, which we all know about. Gas is $2 a gallon;last summer it was $4.
But food prices have also been falling, as can be seen in numerous deals at the grocery store. Food prices dipped 0.1 percent in March for the second month in a row. The last time food prices fell in two consecutive months was in 1992, as the economy recovered from a recession.
As with most economic changes, lower food prices are good news and bad news. They'll help families with squeezed incomes. But they'll probably mean lower profits for farmers and grocery stores, and falling prices signal overall economic weakness.
